


Fencing

by LilacChocolate



Series: Life and Light and Laughter [4]
Category: Lockwood & Co. - Jonathan Stroud
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fencing, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 11:50:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14894105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacChocolate/pseuds/LilacChocolate
Summary: Lucy takes out her stress on Floating Joe and Esmerelda.





	Fencing

Lucy’s sword fell to the floor and she with it. She’d been practicing for about an hour now, trying over and over to get the more complicated warding knots right, but she felt like it wasn’t enough. She had the ghosts sorted, but after the threats from Penelope and Sir Rupert, Lucy knew there was a strong possibility she would have it fight with humans. She had sparred a couple of times with other people, but it had never been that serious. Her life could depend on it now.

‘Luce?’

She looked around and smiled when she saw Lockwood peeking around the doorframe, hoping that her boss put the blush on her cheeks down to exertion, not attraction. That was another thing. She was in love with Lockwood, and whilst she had been able to handle it a year or so ago, with all of the emotional upheaval of her leaving and coming back, and the threats from Fittes, it as all getting too much for her to handle. Something was going to have to give.

‘Hey, Lockwood.’

He stepped into the room and sat down beside his cute agent on the floor. He thought he’d been lonely without her around, but when she returned, Lockwood realised it hadn’t been loneliness, but heartbreak he’d been suffering from. He was going to tell Lucy the way he felt as soon as they had returned from their last big case, he really was, but then Penelope Fittes had waltzed into 35 Portland Row and everything changed. As much as he acted like the all-knowing leader, he had no idea what even _could_ possibly happen in the coming weeks. He didn’t want to put extra pressure on Lucy by confessing his feelings to her, knowing that it could put the rest of the team in jeopardy, so, for now, Lockwood would take what he could get with her, and as soon as all of this was over, he would tell Lucy how he felt.

‘You okay?’ he asked.

Lucy but her lip. She could say yes and Lockwood would more than likely offer her a cup of tea or practice fencing with her. But if she said… ‘No. I’m not, Lockwood.’

The older boy’s eyes widened. ‘What’s wrong?’

She sighed. ‘What if we have to fight?’

Lockwood narrowed his eyes in confusion. ‘Errmm… I hate to break it to you, Luce, but we will have to fight. It is kind of part of our job description.’

‘No, I mean… humans, not ghosts. What if we have to fight humans?’

Lockwood nodded, understanding now. He’d realised himself that it was a big possibility, but he’d tried not to dwell too much on it. ‘I guess… Lucy, you’re one of the best fencers I know. You’d be able to hold yourself against another person.’

‘But what if I have to… kill them?’ she asked, finishing in a whisper.

The older boy looked down at his lap. ‘I don’t know, Luce. But if anyone of us has to do it, we’ll deal with it, okay? We’ll get through it together.’

Lucy nodded, not entirely convinced. ‘Okay.’

Lockwood stood up and held out his hand to Lucy. ‘Come on. Let’s practice some warding knots.’

She took his hand and let herself be pulled up. ‘Can I use them on humans?’

Lockwood smirked. ‘I guess. They’d do a lot of damage.’ He took a rapier off the wall and Lucy grabbed hers off the floor. She stood in front of Esmeralda, Lockwood in front of Joe, and the two began to fence, parrying and retreating to and from the floating dummies.

Lucy stopped first and watched Lockwood for a moment. His brow was damp and his hair had gone fluffy from all of the movement. It flopped across his forehead and over his ears with each parry and Lucy smiled to herself: her boss and best friend was too good looking for his own good. She continued to watch as Lockwood performed a particularly hard warding knot. It would definitely get even a Type Two ghost to back off, and it would deal a lot of damage to a human. She walked over to Lockwood, her rapier still in hand. ‘Teach me that knot?’

Lockwood stepped to the side slightly and held out his sword. ‘Like this.’ He performed the knot once more, and Lucy tried to copy him, but failed miserably.

‘How do you even remember all of these knots?’

Lockwood chuckled and put his rapier down. ‘I’m not sure. Come on. Let’s do it again.’ He moved around to the other side of Lucy and pressed his chest against her back, his right hand covering hers, both of them holding the rapier now.

Lucy felt her breath hitch as Lockwood’s other hand moved to her waist. ‘Watch your stance,’ he said, and Lucy swore his voice was deeper and quieter then it was ten seconds ago.

‘Try again,’ he said.

She complied, moving the rapier through the air, letting Lockwood’s hand guide her.

‘Good.’ Lockwood squeezed Lucy’s waist. ‘Again.’

Lucy’s hand shook under Lockwood’s and he squeezed her waist again. ‘You okay, Luce?’

She shut her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath in. They hardly ever stood this close together, unless they shared a hug, which were few and far between since Lockwood didn’t always enjoy sharing his emotions. Lucy knew she should be used to this by now. She was sixteen, for goodness sake. She should be able to handle letting a boy be this close to her. She let the breath out with a shudder, and turned her head so she faced her boss. ‘Lockwood-’

‘Anthony,’ he said, voice even quieter than before, his eyes darting to look at Lucy’s lips every other second.

‘What?’

‘My name is Anthony.’

‘Anthony, I…’ Lucy shook her head. The stress of hiding her feelings was too much. If she didn’t tell him now, she felt like she would faint under the pressure of everything that was going on. But as she opened her mouth, about to confess, no words came out. What was she supposed to say? What if Lockwood hated her for it? With a sigh, Lucy dropped her rapier, then leant in and kissed Lockwood.

It was only a peck; she barely felt it, and she pulled out of Lockwood’s hold quickly, not wanting to make it more awkward than it already was. ‘I-I’m sorry,’ she stuttered, taking a step back towards the door. She turned around, about to make her retreat, but she was stopped when Lockwood reached out and grabbed her wrist.

‘Lucy-’

‘It’s okay. I’m stupid. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry, Lockwood.’

Lockwood shook his head with a smile. ‘Anthony,’ he said, then he pulled Lucy back to him and kissed her. It was tentative at first: neither of the teenagers knew what they were doing. Between ghost hunting and saving London numerous times, they didn’t have time for any sort of romantic relationship. They didn’t now, either, but they were both stressed beyond belief, and for once, they needed to feel like normal teenagers.

Lockwood let go of Lucy’s wrists and his hands found themselves wrapping around Lucy’s waist and hips, pulling the younger girl closer to him. God, how he wanted to hold her like this every day, kiss her like this all the time, make sure she never got in danger again. He loved this girl in his arms and would do anything to protect her.

He kissed her harder, quicker, and Lucy reached up, gripping Lockwood’s forearms to help ground herself. This was really happening. After years of waiting and flirting and blushing, they were finally kissing. Her hands went up further, finding their way into Lockwood’s hair, and the older boy groaned into her mouth before he pulled away.

Both teenagers were breathless, and as their light pants filled the room, they both smiled at each other.

‘That was…’ Lockwood said, then shook his head, unable to finish his sentence.

‘Yeah,’ Lucy agreed with a breathless laugh.

‘I’ve been holding back for a while,’ he said.

‘I could tell.’

Lockwood groaned in embarrassment and rested his head on Lucy’s shoulder.

She just laughed again and threaded her fingers back through Lockwood’s hair, getting another groan out of her boss.

‘Be my girlfriend?’ he whispered against Lucy’s neck.

She smiled and pressed a kiss to Lockwood’s temple. ‘I’d love to.’

**Author's Note:**

> http://lilacchocolate.tumblr.com/


End file.
